


you pull me over the middle strand

by foolmeyoukiss



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: M/M, They love each other so much, brading hair, larry - Freeform, louis can't braid, so cute
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-03
Updated: 2016-02-03
Packaged: 2018-05-17 23:59:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,017
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5890192
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/foolmeyoukiss/pseuds/foolmeyoukiss
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>harry loves louis and louis loves harry, but louis can't braid hair to save his life.</p>
            </blockquote>





	you pull me over the middle strand

"Hey guys! Due to popular request, today I will be teaching you all how to french braid! In my last video, I was sporting my favorite braided hairdo, and you all loved it! I was surprised that so many of you don't know how to braid, but i am very willing to teach you! But first, let me explain a new giveaway I am doing-"

 

"Yeah, yeah get on with it already," Louis mumbled, skipping a few minutes of the video. On his laptop was the 15th beauty tutorial he had watched all day. This girl was a little too pretty and a little too quirky for Louis' tastes, but he was desperate.

 

"So you'll start off by grabbing a section of hair on the front-left side of the head, like this, and split it into three even sections."

 

In his hands, Louis held a mannequin head that he had managed to order for pretty cheap off Amazon. It's hair was a bit tangled now from Louis' multiple failed attempts, but he managed to create three sections at the front of the head.

 

"You see the first strand? We're going to take that and place it over the middle strand just like this."

 

Louis was able to do that part without much difficulty. He was also successful after the girl on the screen instructed him to place the third strand over the new middle strand. He braced himself for the next part, as it was where he had always failed in the past.

 

"Okay, here's where it gets a tad tricky. This left strand here is going to be placed over the middle strand again, except this time we're going to take some extra hair with it. Watch me as i add another strand to the left strand to place over the middle."

 

He was so grateful for the visual, because the words she spoke were impossibly confusing. He watched her repeat the process a couple of times before he took a deep breath and looked down at his own mannequin. He took the left strand in his hand, and began incorporating another strand into it with the same technique as the girl on his screen. His fingers trembled as he brought the combined strand over the middle. He quickly set his right hand in place on the braid to keep the keep the strands from falling apart. He held his breath with anticipation to see the result, and exhaled loudly when he realized he dropped the right strand at some point, mixing it in with the rest of the hair. Angrily, he undid the little progress he had made and grabbed the brush next to him to get out his newly made tangles.

 

"How the hell am i supposed to hold three different strands when I've only got two hands??" he yelled, rewinding the video back.

 

"So you'll start off by grabbing a section of hair on the front-left side..."

 

Again, Louis was able to separate three sections, and easily placed the left over the middle, followed by the right. His head ached with impatience over the next step.

 

"Okay, here's where it gets a tad tricky. This left strand here is going to be placed over the middle strand again, except this time..."

 

Again, he watched her technique a few times before hitting pause and returning back to the plastic head.

"Alright, man, just hold each piece carefully..." He took the left strand in his hand. "And put some more hair here...yeah okay and then carefully, carefully man just-" His fingers trembled once more as he very gently placed his left strand over the middle. He froze for a minute, overwhelmed by the mess of the three strands laid in front of him. Taking a deep breath, he grabbed the middle strand, and pulled it away from his left strand, making the middle strand the new left. His right hand still held the right strand. He gasped when he realized that he had three strands laid in front of him, each of which he was still holding.

 

"Holy shit- holy shit yes! It's absolutely perfect, take that glimmerlips58! You wish you could cross strands as well as me! Ha!"

 

Still smirking with pride, Louis prepared his hands for the next level in the braid. His courage faltered a bit when he realized he had no idea how to keep his strands in order throughout the entire braid. He reluctantly resumed the youtube video, watching closely.

 

"As I move down along the braid, I continue to use the same process of placing strand over strand, while incorporating more hair as I go."

 

Louis gaped at the screen. "There's no way in hell I can do that with just two hands. Absolutely no way." He looked down to where his hands were situated and sighed.

 

Slowly, he moved the right strand up to gather more hair into it. He did, somehow, so he carefully arranged his fingers into a way to make it easier to place the right over the middle. Holding his breath again, he slid the right strand over the middle, keeping hold of it as well as the other strands in order.

 

"Oh my god...oh my GOD I am absolutely amazing! Salons all over the country better watch out for-"

 

"Louis!"

 

Louis' head whipped towards the closed bedroom door. "Fuck Harry, you really had to come home right now? After I just practically mastered the art of braiding?" He whispered, hurriedly throwing the mannequin head underneath the bed beside him, and ripping the hair-ties off of his wrist into a drawer of the desk he was sitting at. When Harry opened the bedroom door, Louis was erasing his internet's history of hair tutorials.

 

"Louis!" Harry yelled again, running towards Louis' desk chair. The chair rolled to the side as Harry forcefully wrapped his arms around Louis' neck from behind. He kissed the top of his head, his temples, his ears, and the side his neck before Louis giggled loudly and pushed Harry off of him. "Alright, calm down, yeah?" Louis said, beaming at Harry.

 

"I missed you. Like, tons. More than I usually do."

 

"I missed you too, idiot."

 

Harry frowned. "Then get off the computer and come cuddle with me. We can watch a movie. Literally any movie you want, as long as I can hold you throughout the whole thing."

 

Louis' stomach fluttered. "You sure? We've watched Grease like 17 times this month."

 

Harry's smile widened. "That's 17 times this month that I've gotten to hold your hand while you sing along to Summer Nights, so it's alright with me."

 

The butterflies in Louis' body stirred again. "Fine. Go change, I'll pop in the disk."

 

Harry planted a happy kiss on Louis' nose before skipping into the bathroom. Louis shut off the computer and walked over to the TV hanging on the wall across from their bed. He laughed to himself when he pushed eject on the DVD player and saw that Grease was already inside. He definitely would've gotten sick of the movie by now, except he was absolutely obsessed with the way that Harry completed every duet perfectly.

 

Before Louis could even turn back around, Harry was out of the bathroom, hair freshly brushed and his shirt missing, leaving only grey sweatpants to cover his legs. He ran around the bed to Louis, wrapping his arms around him from behind, and burying his face into his neck.

 

Louis unwillingly released another giggle. "That tickles, you weirdo!" He tried to escape Harry's hold, but he had no chance. "Let me go, Har-eeeeeeee!" He screamed, as Harry picked him up, bridal style. He walked them both to the bed, gently setting down an angry Louis.

 

"Stop picking me up like that! It's not fair!" He sat on the bed with his arms crossed.

 

"I can't help it, baby, you're so tiny." Harry rubbed his nose against Louis' before walking around the bed to the other side, where he layed down next to the other boy.

 

"No, I'm not, you're just freakishly huge, actually."

 

Harry laughed loudly, making it even harder for Louis to pretend to be mad at him. "Freakishly hugely in love with you!" Harry said, rolling onto his side and wrapping his arm around Louis to pull him closer.

 

"That doesn't make sense, Harry. You're so dumb." The opening song for Grease began to play in front of them.

 

Harry laughed into Louis' shoulder. "Yeah. Dumb and in love with you." Louis could feel Harry's breath on his skin. He sighed, uncrossing his arms, giving one hand to Harry. Harry beamed, interlocking his fingers with Louis'.

 

They layed like this for a while, until Louis began to sing Greased Lightning and Harry didn't join in. Louis' voice quieted as he turned his head towards his boyfriend. Harry's eyes were shut, but his mouth was slightly open. This meant he was sleeping.

 

Louis' chest burned with overwhelming love for this boy. Every night they spent together, Harry would hold him and kiss him and just love him constantly. Lous wanted to give him something, too, to show his love, even something small. But he just couldn't learn how to braid his goddamn hair.

 

He turned his attention to it now, and how it perfectly framed Harry's beautiful features. He had a strong urge to run his fingers through it, so he silently turned his body. He adjusted so his right hand could reach Harry better because his left hand was still intertwined with Harry's.

 

Humming softly along to the music, Louis' fingertips grazed the dark roots, twirling every strand.

 

He looked down and their entangled hands, and slowly removed his from Harry's. He was sad as he did this, holding Harry's hand was Louis' favorite thing to do. But he needed to practice on the real thing.

 

Very carefully he gathered a section of hair on the front of Harry's head, and divided it into three sections. Every move was gentle enough to keep Harry asleep. Louis slowly crossed the left strand over the middle, followed by the right. Even this process was difficult, because he was at a very awkward angle from Harry, unlike the mannequin which he could turn to whatever position felt best. Also, Louis never had to worry about the mannequin head waking up.

 

He listened for Harry's steady, rhythmic breathing before preparing himself for the next step. He mentally reminded himself that he'd done this before, and that it was easy now. Louis took the left strand and added more hair to it. He then gently brought it across the middle strand. As Louis nervously moved his hand to keep the hair in place, he accidentally knocked his thumb against Harry's head a little too hard.

His breath jumped a bit, but he stayed asleep as louis nervously brought the new right strand across.

Somehow, he was actually able to complete another messy row in Harry's braid before his hands gave out and he was only left with a tangled mess of curls.

 

"Oh, dammit!" Louis whispered loudly. With difficulty, he pulled his hands out of the disaster he created and crossed his arms over his chest.

 

He was so frustrated, that even after he turned off Grease and replaced his hand back in Harry's, it took Louis forever to fall asleep. An hour later, however, when he did find his well-needed slumber, Louis definitely dreamt of those inky curls that never failed to destroy him.

 

\-----

 

At exactly 11:34 a.m., Louis woke up to find the better half of the bed empty and cold, with only a post-it note placed brightly atop Harry's pillow. With a hollow feeling in his chest, he read the note's carefully drawn out words.

 

_ Was going to make you lunch, but we're out of cheese! Can you believe it? I went into town to get some more. Plus a few other things. I'll be back around noon sweetums!!!! _

 

Louis could have cried at the five little hand-drawn hearts Harry adorned the bottom of the note with. Instead, however, he concentrated on Harry saying he'd be out of the house for another thirty minutes.

 

Hastily, Louis climbed to the edge of bed and felt around for the mannequin head underneath the frame. With the computer on his sheets and the plastic head in his lap, Louis began another one-on-one tutoring session with the women of youtube.

 

\-----

 

It was 12:07 when Harry finally returned home, and Louis knew this for a fact because he was counting down the minutes. Only a short time before the taller boy came back to the house with fresh cheese in his hands, Louis Tomlinson had completed his first full french braid.

 

“They were out of provolone, baby, but i guess cheddar will taste good enough…” Harry tucked a strand of hair that had fallen away from his bun behind his ear, and Louis beamed in anticipation.

 

“Forget the sandwiches Harry. Come lay with me”, Louis whispered, extending his hand out to Harry.

 

Harry created a crease in the skin between his eyebrows. “Louis. I just went out of my way to go get us more cheese-”

 

“You only got cheddar, love, they’ll be horrid.”

 

The crease deepened. “It’s all they had! We’ve got good ham, they won’t be that bad at all, I promise. Come eat, Lou.” Harry sighed and went to reach for the bread on the highest shelf of their cupboard.

“Harry, seriously,” Louis stood in front of him, trying his hardest to block him from the loaves of bread with the little height he had. “Please, we can make them later. Just give me five minutes in the bedroom.’

 

Harry giggled, while easily selecting wheat bread buns above Louis’ outstretched arm. “Only five minutes?” He laughed again. “If you would just wait until tonight, baby, we can go for hours, if you’d like.”

 

Louis shoved Harry’s chest. “No, Harry, not that!” He shook his head, catching Harry’s contagious laughter as well. “Well, yes, that, but not right now. I need to show you something.”

 

Harry squinted at him, but followed anyway, interlocking their hands for the short walk to the bedroom.

 

Louis turned to face Harry. “Okay. Um...take out your hair first.”

 

Confused yet amused, Harry removed the hair-tie from his head and placed it around his wrist.

 

“No, give it to me.”

 

“What?”

 

“Give me the hair band.”

 

Harry gently grabbed Louis’ right hand and traded the band from his own wrist to the other boy’s, all while keeping their fingers laced together.

 

“Okay. Now, uh...I’ll sit here,” Louis moved to sit with his back against the headboard of their bed. “And you’ll sit right in front of me, yeah?” Harry laughed as he did so, sitting cross-legged on their duvet and facing Louis. He snuck in a kiss on Louis’ nose before being instructed to turn around, with his back to Louis.

 

Louis sat up in his knees and took the deepest breath of his life before shakily moving his hands to Harry’s hairline. Harry flinched at the unexpected contact, and stayed tense with confusion over what Louis was doing.

 

Before Louis could scare himself too much, he separated the front middle part of Harry’s hair into three sections. Then, the easy part came of just placing each strand over the middle once. Now, he got nervous. 

 

By now, Harry had realized what Louis was trying to do and gasped with happiness, his body relaxing. “I didn’t know you could braid, baby.”

 

“Yeah, well, we’ll see,” Louis sighed as he gracefully incorporated more hair into the right strand, inhaling again after it had successfully crossed over and he was now gathering up a new left strand.

 

Louis had completed four pretty good rows, and had gained back a feeling of confidence in his gut. He no longer had to hold his breath every time he crossed a piece of hair over. It was a good thing too, because his fingers kept brushing Harry’s bare neck, which caused a rather large distraction for Louis.

 

Taking advantage of his small confidence gain, Louis gave in, slowly leaning towards Harry’s exposed skin. He watched Harry shiver as his warm breath gently brushed over Harry’s cold neck. Just that was enough to push Louis over the edge, so he risked the braid’s neatness to press a quick, loving kiss a few inches under Harry’s left earlobe. 

 

Harry hummed at that, and Louis’ heart soared. “I love you, Lou.” Harry whispered.

 

Instead of answering, Louis used the heavy beating of his chest to push him faster through the rest of the braid. Just a short while later, Louis had made through all of the hard parts and was only left with the end of the braid, which only required the simple three strand method that Louis had mastered long before. He quickly powered through those rows, excitement to see the final product threatening to burst his chest open. 

 

And, finally, Louis had completed his first of many french braids upon Harry Styles’ hair.

 

It was messy, crooked, and had a few too many loose pieces sticking out from it, but Harry loved it more than anything in the world except Louis himself.

 

Immediately after Louis had carefully wrapped the hair-tie around the bottom, Harry jolted to the bathroom mirror. Louis heard a gasp, and suddenly Harry was jumping back onto the bed. His body floated above Louis’ as he kissed every single inch of his face and neck. He settled down on Louis’ lips with murmurs of “I love you, it’s beautiful, I love you” on repeat.

 

Five minutes of tiny kisses and soft touches later, Louis forced Harry up so he could actually look at his work for the first time. It became slightly more disheveled in the past few minutes, but Louis’ stomach still swelled with pride. Harry loved the smile on Louis’ face and he attacked him again with more kisses.

 

“I love you too, Harry.”

  
He beamed at that. “Can I make you a sandwich now?”


End file.
